1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a Kimchi mix composition with which housewives or cooks can easily prepare Kimchi and which prevents the Kimchi from giving nitrosoamine, a carcinogen, in the stomach.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many reports disclose that there is a relation between stomach cancer and fermented vegetable foods, such as Kimchi, which are mixed with stimulating spices including salt and powdered red pepper. For instance, it is written in Surgeon General's reports of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that, when a lot of the fermented foods are taken in, they may cause stomach cancer because, in the course of vegetable fermentation, such as under the condition of pickling vegetables into Kimchi, the nitrate within the vegetables is converted into nitrosamine, a known carcinogen, and other nitrogen compounds by the action of zymogens in the body.
Nitrate is contained in vegetables at a considerable amount and thus, it is accumulated in the human body when taken in. Ingestion of raw vegetables, however, is known to have nothing to do with stomach cancer even if the intake of nitrate is large (Pobel et al. 1995). On the other hand, Morales, et al., 1995, reported that the drinking water in Spain contains a considerable amount of nitrate and the nosagenic rate of stomach cancer is high to the in Spain. This contrary result is deduced to have something to do with vitamin C: when raw vegetables are eaten, vitamin C, together with nitrate, are taken in and plays a role as an antioxidant in the body. Whereas, the tap water of Spain contains little vitamin C and fermented vegetables, such as Kimchi, lack vitamin C.
Some scientists would lay emphasis on the role of salt in causing stomach cancer (Nutrition and Stomach Cancer, Cancer Cause and Control 1996, 7 pp41-55, Kono et al.). However, it is now accepted that nitrate and salt cause stomach cancer in combination.
According to recent research of International Epidemiological Association concerning death owing to stomach cancer for men and women in 24 countries (International Journal of Epidemiology, 1996, Joossens et al.), Korean men stand first on the list of the death rate, Japanese second and Chinese next. It was reported that, of the peoples in the 24 countries researched, Koreans are first in nitrate intake, the Chinese second and the Japanese fourth. Reportedly, Koreans also rank first in salt intake, the Chinese fourth, and the Japanese tenth. The peoples of Spain, France and Canada, who are reported to ingest, in average, salt 20% less than do the people of Korea, show a death rate owing to stomach cancer less than a quarter of the death rate of Koreans. The three countries' peoples take in nitrate at an amount less than by 60% than do Koreans. Canadians take in salt 6% more than, but nitrate a quarter as much as do the Japanese and the death rate of Canadians owing to stomach cancer is one-fifth of that of the Japanese. The Spanish and the French are higher in salt intake than the Japanese but take in nitrate at an amount less than by 40% than and show a death rate owing to stomach cancer less than by 60% than do the Japanese. Thus, Koreans and the Japanese are both certainly more exposed to the danger of nitrate than any other peoples because the peoples of both countries take in a lot of fermented vegetables.
The research report, supra, reveals that Koreans take in the most salt and fermented vegetables in the world and no other people in the world have so high a nosagenic rate of stomach cancer as Koreans. The Korean death rate owing to stomach cancer is ten times as large as the Americans' and higher by 70% than the Japanese's, the second in the world. Indeed, the nitrate intake of Koreans comes mainly from Kimchi, a staple food of Korea, made of salted cabbage. This report also shows that salt is a necessary condition, but not alone enough of a contributor to cause stomach cancer and that nitrate, when entering the body as it is contained in not raw vegetables, but fermented vegetables, may act as a cause of stomach cancer in a complex mechanism together with salt. In the case of Kimchi, vitamin C is destroyed during its fermentation so that the nitrate therein has a great influence on the nosagenic rate of stomach cancer, in combination with the salt.